Luke 12:13-21
“To Have or to Live?”
“Life must not be evaluated on the basis of the abundance of possessions.”
Sunday Morning Sermon
02.25.07
Intro: (Start with title and text)
After a very long and boring sermon the church members filed out of the church saying nothing to the preacher. Towards the end of the line was a thoughtful person who always commented on the sermons. “Preacher, today your sermon reminded me of the peace and love of God!" The pastor was thrilled. "No-one has ever said anything like that about my preaching before. Tell me why." "Well - it reminded me of the Peace of God because it passed all understanding and the Love of God because it endured forever!"
Discussion:
We live in a society of more. Our world our society tells us – things are the most important in life – Somehow you are judged by the brand of shoes, the coat you have or don’t have – the house you have, the car that you drive. If someone doesn’t fit, or match up – then somehow they don’t belong.
And when we do that – when we believe that – we hurt our ourselves, our families, our friends and our church.
The society in that time wasn’t much different than today – they probably didn’t know what email was, but the people haven’t changed much. A lot of people will tell you we’ve changed – we haven’t changed. We can, if we look close enough see our lives and society as the same ones in Biblical times. They faced the same problems we have in our society.
Let me take a straw poll – feel free to answer – how many of you want to hear a sermon on Money? You don’t want to hear it any more than I want to preach it. I wasn’t asked to preach this, this is what God has laid on my heart for us. But listen, how you deal with this one topic is a reflection of the way you deal with other things in your life. Probably the reason we don’t like money sermons – is because there has been so much abuse by the church as a whole and preachers. I can promise you this – if you follow everything in this sermon to the last detail – My dog will NOT have an air conditioned dog house. I will not pull up in a Hummer next week because you followed this sermon. This is not a sermon to benefit me. I believe if this church is doing the things God wants us to do – he will supply all our needs – but he supplies through you and me. And if we aren’t on board God will work in spite of us – but we won’t receive the blessing he has intended.
I believe our text this Morning gives us three things – three principles – three ideals about money that if we apply them – they will bless us. Turn with me, if you have your Bibles to (Advance) Luke 12:13-21 (Read) Church, I believe God is waiting to bless you.
(Advance)
I. Watch out for Greed (13-15) (Advance)
Proverbs 28:25 – A greedy man stirs up dissension, but he who trusts in the LORD will prosper.
a. Brother’s request
i. Tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me
Who’s being greedy? The one who had the inheritance or the one who wanted more? Was it an issue of fairness or an issue of greed – because of the words that Jesus says – we can know it was an issue of greed.
Here is what the man was thinking –
b. In my possessions
i. I have my identity
ii. I have placed around me the things that determine who I am
iii. Therefore – I have a need for more
Jesus did not come to judge matters of possessions. He did not come to settle money disputes between two people – and let me suggest that is not the church’s job either. Speaking to the wider audience and I believe to us as well he says --
c. Watch Out!
i. Be on your guard against all kinds of greed
ii. The desire for more and more is a temptation for many
iii. The willingness to sacrifice
1. Friends
2. Family
3. Victories
All for the sake of more – is engrained in our society. So you have to ask yourself would I rather “have” or would I rather “live”. Listen, you will make a choice in your work – the hours and hours you spend away from your family. The time not spent with the kids and grandkids. There is nothing wrong with working hard so that you can provide for your family. There is something wholly evil about allowing it to take the place of and rob you of times with your kids. If you have done this in the past – that’s one thing – work to make sure it doesn’t happen in the future.
d. What determines life
i. Not the things you have or don’t have
ii. Not the things the neighbors have
Your neighbor pulls in with a new bass boat and brand new truck – sure they might enjoy their time using those things – but that’s not what life is about. Jesus says – and if you get nothing else this morning get this – (Advance)
A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. In other words – all the stuff that you are collecting – it doesn’t matter. That is not where you will find life, and if you are looking for life at the end of a pile of something – it’s a lost cause. The only thing you will find at the end of a pile – is the need for more stuff.
Jesus told them a parable – a story to fit their situation. He tells them and us, because I think this is directed right at us where we are right now.
(Advance)
II. Look out for others (16-19)
a. The ground of a certain rich man
i. Produced a good crop – he had a good year.
Good years in farming are few and far between. When your ground has produced a good crop – that’s worth something. If you take what Jesus said about the life of man doesn’t consist in the abundance of his possessions. What should the rich man do? We’re going to find out what he does --
b. He thinks inwardly
i. “What shall I do?”
Building more barns to store his crops in is not the problem. For the inward thinking man – that’s not good enough. He couldn’t see far enough beyond himself to know the difference. He says this:
ii. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones
iii. And there I will store all my grains and goods
Catch the inward attitude --
iv. And then I will say to myself –
1. you have plenty of good things laid up for many years
2. Take life easy, eat, drink and be merry
Wow what a foolish man he was! It’s interesting to me that he never thanked God for his blessing. How many times have we done the same thing? How many times have we allowed pride, selfishness and greed for more keep us from valuing one of the most precious gifts we have – our very lives? How many times has our own good fortune allowed us to think of ourselves instead of those around us. I remember a few years ago the church we were working with decided to help with the “Christmas project” – through DHHS, you adopt a family. It started off with just the kids keeping their change, excitement grew and our church sold hot chocolate at the Christmas celebration in town – it was a cold day, and we raised a lot of money. Pretty soon arguments about money started. The crazy thing – the ones who were arguing the loudest were the ones who needed less. The attitude quickly turned inward – instead of seeking and saving the lost, and helping those the Bible says Jesus came to reach out to – we turned to help ourselves, to bless ourselves, to encourage ourselves – our blessing was topped out – because God withdrew his. Notice something his about his attitude.
c. Self
i. Is exalted
ii. Is Lifted up
This is in direct contrast to the kingdom of heaven – if you remember the words of Jesus: (Advance)
Matthew 19:30 – But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.
d. Thinking only of yourself
i. Is not the way of the kingdom
ii. Has no value in the bigger picture of the kingdom of heaven
His interest was not in other people – but himself. His desires were not for other people and those around him – but only himself, his focus was turned inward.
Listen, It will limit the blessing God has for you, if you are holding on to the possessions you have. It will limit what he can do in your life – where he can send you – and even your willingness to go – if you are thinking only of yourself, and have only your plans in mind. God knows what he plans for us as the body of Christ – (Advance)
Jeremiah 29:11 – For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD , "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.
e. God’s Plans
i. Are different than our plans – how many of you know that if God wants you to do something – you will do it. I believe if God wants you to do something – he can make it painfully hard to do something else.
ii. If God is – And I think he is – calling us to reach into our community, reach into our families and get beyond ourselves – we have no other choice. If God is calling us to do that – he won’t leave us to do it by ourselves. He will give us, and I believe he’s done this – he will equip us with the needed tools to accomplish his will.
We must value the things that God values – people (regardless of what they look like), Children (no matter how loud they are, I promise you it’s a blessing to have young children, in the church), Justice (for those who have none in their lives). When we value the things that God values we will:
(Advance)
III. Be Rich Towards God (20-21)
a. God took from him
i. The one thing he should have valued the most – His very life
ii. What then will you do with the things you have stored for yourself?
When we are not rich towards God – when we withhold our offering – we also withhold a blessing. And I believe this is more about the heart than it is the wallet. Just throwing something in the offering – is not what God wants. In the Old Testament the minimum offering was 10% -- He wants so much more of your life than 10%. The New Testament has no minimum requirement – because everything was raised up a notch with the coming of Jesus. You aren’t under the law with everything else – why use it as a guideline for your giving to the church?
b. It’s comfortable?
c. It’s easy?
Here’s what I am suggesting – your offering to God should be a reflection of the desire that you have for him to bless you. If you sow with a little blessing in mind – That’s what you will get. If you sow like God can bless your socks off – he will. I am not saying that you can buy your blessing from God – he doesn’t need your money. He needs your heart; he needs your life completely surrendered to him without hesitation without hanging on to anything.
d. Is this a threat?
i. Is God going to demand the life from everyone who is selfish?
ii. Is God going to blast you from his throne if you don’t give in the offering during morning worship?
Because after all it says – (Advance) “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”
God cares so much about your life – how you spend your time, how you use your energy, what you do with your desire to love others, what you do when you have fun, what you do when you are sad, lonely, bored, tired, depressed – He cares so much about you – he doesn’t want you to waste any chance for blessing. He’s willing to take those chances away – if you don’t use them.
Conclusion:
A few years ago we were at a small church in Piggott, Arkansas. I was watching TV one afternoon and they had this segment called “in the garden” – it was right before the first freeze of the season. He looks straight at the camera and says, “If you to have tulips in the spring – you must plant them NOW. You have to plant them before the first freeze. So like the mindless person that I am, I dropped everything and bought some tulip bulbs. I didn’t just buy a few I bought 50 of them – they came in this big bag. Amanda thought I was nuts. For some reason, I didn’t get them in the ground that day. We were at Amanda’s parents house and If you can picture Barney Fife bragging about being a tulip farmer – that was my attitude. I told her dad – I’m going to plant tulips, but not just a few – I’m going to plant 50. He looks at me, and says – I’ve tried to grow them here, and they just won’t grow. I wake up the next morning – I dig some holes for the tulips, but instead of planting 50, I planted 15 – way less than 1/2 . When spring came – we had this pretty flowerbed of 15 tulips. I kept the 35 bulbs as a reminder – when you sow sparingly, you will reap sparingly. When you give to God believing that he will not bless your gift – you will hold back, and he has less to bless.
I want to live a life that God will bless – I want to give God the chance to pour out his blessing in my life – so that I can bless and give to those around me.
Normally we have a decision song and we ask you to come forward to make a change to accept Jesus – Those are very open – if you need to accept Jesus as Lord, please don’t hesitate. I don’t think ministry is limited to Sunday morning worship – something might have happened this week to encourage a change in your life – please don’t let this sermon/message stand in the way of that.
We aren’t going to pass the offering plate again – it’s not my desire that you feel guilty and somehow that prompts your giving, that’s not biblical, it’s not a blessing, and it’s not my intent. What I would like us to do is to privately search ourselves and determine in our hearts if what we gave, and what we give in the future is the right amount. Let’s pray ---
We are going to have an invitation song – if you need to accept Jesus as lord, make the commitment to follow him with your life, be buried with him in baptism, please come – if you have determined in yourself, that you have not given the right amount – here’s the plate. After we have finished the song – finish and make right your offering back to God. It’s a private thing, biblically it should be a joyful event.
